Sand + Sea = Product

Just look at this new Entreprenette photo! I arrived at the beach yesterday (on my vacation!) to find these two enterprising young women with a jewelry stand…..selling necklaces made from sea shells and beach rocks with natural holes in them. They win my vote for the best new business of the week. All they needed was an idea and voila – instant product line.

What I admire about them, is that they saw an opportunity and went for it. They happened upon the shells and rocks on the beach and had their AH-HA moment. Got a ball of string and were in business about 15 minutes later. While stringing the necklaces, they decided to donate all the money to save the birds who are affected by the BP oil spill.

We bought 5 and are all proudly wearing them.

This just goes to show you that sometimes the simplest ideas can be turned into a business.

Just wanted to share these young ladies’ strong will and passion to make something happen with you as I found it so inspiring.

There are 22 comments

Have you thought about running a workshop/webinar or something for kidpreneurs? Our schools don’t teach financial literacy and certainly not business literacy! It would be fun to find some savvy young kids and help them blossom into mini entrepreneurs and entreprenettes!

Brings me back to my childhood and my early entrepreneurialism where I collected sea shells, glued them into fun little animals, painted them in different colors and sold them to passer-by’s :). That was just the beginning! I am now the founder and the designer of Tivoli Couture Four Seasons Baby Gear and Accessories company and absolutely love what I do! Way to go girls!!!

That is so cool! I love hearing stories like that! I have 2 friends on Etsy who both helped their kids open shops online as well. And, I believe they are all under age 10. One makes jewelry and the other 2 make buttons and pins. The one friend brought her 2 kids to her last craft fair and gave them a table. They made more money than she did! That’s such a great way to get them thinking the right way early!

I once read an author who said he never goes by a lemonade stand without buying lemonade–that we want to support the entrepreneurs of the future. I always buy the lemonade, even if it’s the yucky mix from a can (I often spill it out later!). How wonderful, though, to be making something natural, with recycled “ingredients” and giving the money to a great cause. These girls have my vote! Thanks for sharing this.

My girls see me selling on Etsy and want to have businesses of their own too. Last year they ran a “water/snack” table during our neighborhood yard sale. They didn’t mark up the water bottles or bags of chips beyond a 50% MU but they still made a killing! This year they want to make jewelry and coloring books!

It’s always so wonderful for kids to feel that passion so early in life and not have the fear us adults sometimes encounter while starting up or running our own businesses!

Keep doing what you are doing! More and more, younger business women are entering the arena and with great success! You are truly inspiring to women of all ages and I’m sure will have a lengthy creative career!

This is great! With regards to workshops for kids… our company already offers this kind of thing in the UK to school kids of all ages. The kids love the opportunity to have a go at running their own business be it for just one day or over a period of time.

What a great post! Glad I saw the ‘tweet’ on twitter. I see that many of the posts above mentioned Kidpreneurs and thought that I’d share with you all a book that I bought for my 8 & 10 year old kids. Since they both read the Kidpreneurs book, they have both been inspired to start something in the local community and give back a % of the profits to the local charities. I was touched by this and was so amazed when they came out of their bedroom with a ‘business plan’ from the kidpreneurs book. Its so empowering to see kids actually getting up and doing good for their communities. I’d highly recommend this book that taught my kids the basic principles of entrepreneurship and also reminded them of the importance of doing good and giving back to those in need. more info on the book: http://Kidpreneurs.org

Sarah, I just woke up and circled back to this post because I thought of something in my sleep! Love the comments left above too!

Don’t know why I’m thinking that you need any ideas for new projects, but here goes for another — one other project you might consider is crowd sourcing kidpreneur stories — it might be neat-o to find kid CEO’s who have already launched real live businesses and:

A) have them contribute their story how they got started
B) share a description of their business (perhaps what their 30-second elevator pitch would be!)
C) get them to offer either lessons learned (early mistakes made in their youth!) or their best tips to share with other kidpreneur planners/starters (wisdom acquired now in their advanced age!).

I would think other kidpreneur wannabe’s (used in the most positive sense) would be inspired and encouraged by seeing others’ tangible stories, one after another on a website and/or in a book.

You could even have a panel of expert contributors chime in on each with short commentary sharing what they love (affirmation of things done right) about the venture and how the kid ceo is running the venture.

I was with Sarah when we saw these adorable girls – they were so smart, motivated and absolutely irresistible – I’m sure everyone who walked by bought necklaces from them. We have all been wearing them every day. The point is – when you have a great idea, act on it! People respond to your passion and commitment. Happy 4th of July, everyone!

It is amazing to see the creativity and business savvy that pours out in youth like our sand + sea entrepreneurs above!

Kenny — great thoughts on classes and stories to teach kids business savvy. There is a huge youth entrepreneurship movement in line with your ideas. I work with a cause called Lemonade Day that puts living, breathing entrepreneurship experiences in kids’ lives. They start by operating their own lemonade stand business! Kids get an entrepreneur’s workbook that walks them through setting a goal, selecting a site, marketing their product and making a profit.

You are so awesome! I dont believe Ive read through anything such as this previously. So great to find anyone with a few original ideas on it all issue. realy appreciate it for starting it up. this website is certainly something which is required on the web, somebody by having a little originality. beneficial job for sending something new to the net!

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